


Between Armor and Skin

by musicofthespheres



Category: Horizon: Zero Dawn (Video Game)
Genre: F/M, Smut
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-13
Updated: 2018-02-17
Packaged: 2019-03-18 00:31:48
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,714
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13670535
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/musicofthespheres/pseuds/musicofthespheres
Summary: Three bandit camps, three opportunities for Aloy to learn something about herself. Slightly divergent from canon interactions, but the essence is still the same.





	1. Devil's Thirst: Where the Arrowhead Passes

**Author's Note:**

  * For [queenofkadara](https://archiveofourown.org/users/queenofkadara/gifts).



> A big thank you to [queenofkadara](http://archiveofourown.org/users/queenofkadara) for beta-reading, the title, supporting me as I write this, and shamelessly enabling my Niloy addiction with her own brilliant contributions to the ship fandom <3

His feral grin ignited something in her core. His distinctly masculine scent surrounded them both as they huddled together in the tall grass while Aloy strategized. Her mind kept wandering to his bare chest, visible through the open vest of his ostentatious outfit. His headdress was equally ridiculous, all feathered and metallic as it was. He was lucky the sun wasn’t out right now to reflect off of it and give away their position. 

Aloy wasn’t hard-pressed to imagine him preening like the creature he resembled; his lilting voice and learned tongue coupled with his blasé attitude to create the image of a haughty bird delicately arranging its vibrant plumage before it murdered you. 

Her imagination presented her with another image and she turned sharply away, heat rising to her cheeks and pooling in her stomach. 

Time to Focus. 

Her first arrow was true and struck the head of one of the orange-silhouetted sentries, felling him swiftly and silently. She paused, waiting for his compatriots to realize one of their own had been downed, but they all went about their business as though they weren’t about to be slaughtered to a one. 

Behind her, the man who called himself Nil remained silent.

Aloy scanned the rest of the camp with her Focus. There were so many bandits, and these enemies did not have predestined paths like the machines she was used to hunting. She was loathe to admit that the unpredictability thrilled her. Downing the men who had attacked the Proving was one thing, but this time she was the hunter, not the hunted. 

Her next three arrows took out another sentry and two bandits who had been unfortunate enough to wander into her line of sight. Human heads made for much smaller targets, but they went down much quicker than machines. She glanced back at Nil to gauge his reaction so far. 

The disappointment radiating off her hunting partner was almost tangible. The way he had spoken prior to this little expedition, she knew he wanted to get up close and personal for the kill.

Well, alright. She could do that.

Aloy dove and rolled into the next patch of tall grass, now able to see into the camp through the main gates. She watched as two of the bandit thugs spoke with each other casually, leaning against their respective walls and not paying attention to the human-shaped doom approaching through the darkness.

One of them let out a shout as Aloy jammed her spear into the other’s throat, putting him out of his misery in one fell swoop. An arrow pierced the would-be attacker’s trachea and his warning cry died with a horrendous gurgle as he slumped to his knees and fell face-forward into the rain-slicked muck. 

Aloy looked back to see Nil grinning at her and lowering his bow, and her breath caught in her throat. Now he was starting to have fun, and the mirth on his face kindled the quiet desire in her core.

Before long, Aloy and Nil were surrounded. They dodged and weaved in tandem like they’d been partners for years, expertly setting up kills for each other and cutting down wave after wave of assailants. 

Nil’s scent drove Aloy wild. Her head buzzed, and she wasn’t sure if it was him or the ferocity of the battle that had her feeling intoxicated.

Blood rushing in their ears, rushing from their enemies’ wounds -- in the midst of the fight, Aloy couldn’t tell the difference anymore. That heat died to a smoulder as they cut down the last of their enemies, and bodies lay strewn about their feet. And for a brief, brief moment, Aloy understood him. 

She glanced back at Nil, whose teeth were now bared in a grin that sent chills down her spine. She wanted -- no, _needed_ to know more. She opened her mouth to speak but was cut off as they were approached by the freed captives, including a Nora outcast named Jom. Somewhere between the grovelling thank-you and the invitation to trade with them, Nil slipped away. 

Once Jom finally left Aloy alone, Nil was nowhere to be found. Aloy tapped her Focus and scanned the camp, and almost didn’t catch the faint purple outline at the periphery of the device’s range. She jogged purposefully toward her destination, hoping she’d catch him before he was swallowed up by the wilds. 

To her surprise, Nil stood waiting for her on the ridge.

Her heart skipped a beat as he grinned that vicious grin of his. She longed to reach out and touch him — she imagined that his skin would be as cold as ice, with a heartbeat so shallow it might as well be stone. 

But then he spoke, his eyes darkening as they swept over her figure, and Aloy had to fight to keep her composure. She feigned disgust at his murderous poetry while inside, her heart was palpitating — and not from the fight. She choked out a dismissal and turned to leave and gather her bearings. 

A quick glance over her shoulder as she ran off toward the North revealed that he was watching her every step, an unreadable expression on his face.


	2. Gatelands: Partners, Killing Without Consequence

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks again to queenofkadara for betareading -- as well as [CZGoldEdition](https://archiveofourown.org/users/CZGoldEdition/) :D You ladies are amazing, thank you <3

As they crouched together, Aloy realized with a start that she relished the bloodlust-charged atmosphere that crackled and spat whenever Nil was nearby. She had found him, standing careless-as-you-please, next to a Thunderjaw site. 

“I did tell you we’d meet again.” 

His cocksure grin and silky words, restrained but filled with longing, nearly stopped her heart. They reflected the same unexplained desire she’d felt as an ache in her chest since they last met. They were no kindred spirits, of that Aloy was certain, so she couldn’t interpret the feeling into anything that made sense. 

So on they walked toward the camp, neither taking point this time. Equals.

Aloy’s Focus told her there were a multitude of bandits, even more numerous than Devil’s Thirst. She could handle them, but this time she was glad to have a partner. 

That word rang out in her mind. Partners. Nil considered them… a team. Aloy didn’t know why the very concept made her face hot, or made her short of breath, or-

His scent filled the air as he crept up alongside her, leaning in to whisper something that, in her distraction, Aloy completely missed. Her gut ached with a maelstrom of emotions that she couldn’t identify. Emotions that kept her awake at night. A newly familiar aching between her legs reminded her of her explorations the nights previous, that exquisite pressure which sated her feelings for a time until they rose again with the sun. 

“Ready?” Nil asked, interrupting her salacious thoughts and leaning closer than Aloy thought was necessary. His silver eyes glinted with mischief, coming alive with the same zeal Aloy remembered from their first fight together. He placed his hand on her shoulder, his skin much warmer than she’d imagined it being, and then took off through the brush. “Are you with me, fiery huntress mine?” 

Aloy nodded, suddenly unable to speak at his closeness, his _boldness_. His actions reflected what she felt. Heat rose to her cheeks again and she leaned into his touch for the briefest of moments before he pulled away and crept forward. 

“They won’t be able to tell us apart from the long shadows of the evening,” Nil whispered as they approached. “And that will mean their imminent death.” He flipped his knife in his hand, catching it easily by the hilt and dropped even lower until he blended in with the landscape in the vanishing light. 

Aloy followed suit.

His knife -- which was nameless, Aloy had been surprised to find -- easily sliced through the throat of its first target, and the bandit manning the Eastern turret died before he hit the ground. Light left his eyes as swiftly as blood flowed from his wound. 

Aloy cringed as the bandit’s eyes locked on her before they went blank. It was a gruesome sight, but a necessity in this line of work. “Ugh,” she muttered, involuntarily. 

Nil chuckled gently beside her. “Getting excited?” 

Aloy racked her bow and drew her spear, quelling her disgust. She would show this lethal human weapon beside her just how deadly she could be. 

A pair of bandits approached from the left -- apparently to investigate why the eastern side of the camp was mysteriously unguarded. They turned sharply at the sound of Aloy’s whistle, only to meet death incarnate plunging her spear toward them. 

With a powerful thrust, Aloy pierced the chest of one of the bandits. The bloodcurdling _crack_ of his sternum collapsing in on itself echoed into the night. 

Beside her, Nil swept in and knocked the second bandit off his feet. 

The bandit was quick, dodging out of the way of Nil’s knife, but he met his death at the end of Aloy’s spear as she swung around and pinned him to the ground through the heart. His blood mingled with his companion’s as he kicked his legs and screamed in agony before going limp. 

Aloy lifted her spear out of his body and turned to her partner. 

“Well, the whole damned camp knows we’re here now,” Nil said, voice everything but disappointed. 

“The alarm,” Aloy breathed. She turned to run toward the centre of the camp, intent on disabling it before even more reinforcements could arrive, but Nil grabbed her arm. 

“Let them come,” he said, voice deep and husky. “We will paint the dirt red with their blood as a monument to our good fortune tonight.” 

Aloy, momentarily speechless, had a sudden vision of Nil pinning her against the wall amidst the carnage and having his way with her in the victory of their conquest. The very thought set alight the same lust she had been nurturing since they first parted ways, and she wanted so desperately to know what his skin would feel like on top of hers. 

“Here they come,” Nil said, turning away from Aloy and her illicit daydreaming. He prepared to take on the first wave of bandits all by himself, easily downing three of the men with a quick hack-and-slash of his blade. 

Aloy returned to herself and joined the melee with fresh abandon. She would not be outdone, intrusive lustful inclinations be damned. 

xxx 

Aloy stood surrounded by corpses, lungs burning as she panted. 

Nil leaned on the rock wall across from the makeshift arena, arms crossed. “You do a much better job than my old partner. He was always so...” He waved his hand dismissively, “Hesitant.” 

Aloy smirked as she cleaned the blood off her spearhead. Leaning down to retrieve an arrow from the chest of one of the bandits, she said, “Hesitation gets you killed.”

Nil nodded with enthusiastic agreement. “And that’s what I tried to tell him, but he didn’t listen.” Then he shrugged. “Oh well, he got what he deserved.” 

Aloy watched as Nil crouched to pick up his own arrows. 

He turned toward her, catching her looking, and grinned. “Remember how the blood pounded in your ears? They’ll ring later, in the calm. It’s a call to arms from your inner desires.” 

Nil was right, of course, but not in the way he thought. Or maybe he meant it both ways. Aloy wouldn’t put it past him. 

She took two steps toward him before stopping in her tracks. Her earlier fantasy sprung up in her mind again, but the pungent scent of iron filled the air and she decided that now wasn’t the time, though it would probably be just to Nil’s liking. 

“Or a call for help,” she replied sarcastically, hoping her feelings weren’t laid out like glyphs on her face. 

Nil levelled his gaze on her as he stood, silvery eyes darkened in the night. “I wouldn’t fight it.” His voice was rich like syrup, and his tone promised the same sweetness if she let him keep talking. 

“I can tell.” Aloy bit her lip, looking away. She wouldn’t let him take control of _that_ conversation. “Find a new partner yet?” 

Nil clutched his chest, hurt. He barked out a laugh. “I thought _we_ were partners,” he said, lifting an eyebrow. “You wound me.” 

Aloy changed the subject. 

They talked as they walked toward the outskirts of the camp, gingerly stepping over bodies on the way and occasionally crouching down to pick up valuables that the deceased no longer had need for. Nil told her about his time at Sunstone Rock -- a prison, Aloy discovered -- and enlightened her on his feelings about war. 

“Nil,” she said, stopping as they reached a fork in the road outside the camp. “I have my own paths to follow. I can’t… go with you,” she said reluctantly, even as her inner thoughts clamoured for her to change her mind. 

Nil stopped as well and turned to her, his face neutral. “I know that,” he said evenly. His silver eyes met her green ones and held them for a long moment. “But we’re alike, you and I.” He reached out and took the spear from her hands, gauging its heft and examining the well-worn shaft, shaped perfectly to her hands after years of use. “So I have no doubt that we will meet again.” 

Aloy watched, mesmerized, as he swung the lethal weapon so casually. Like it belonged in his hands instead of hers, the traitorous thing. “Where?” she blurted out. 

Nil raised an eyebrow as he contemplated her question, glancing at her out of the corner of his eye. “Wherever there are bandits, of course,” he said. “Besides, like I said before. We’ll know each other by our work. We’ll never _really_ be alone.” 

And Aloy _hadn’t_ really been alone. Thoughts of Nil had followed her here all the way from Devil’s Thirst, needling at her consciousness during her waking hours and invading her dreams as she slept. She’d thought of him as she fought the bandit horde near Daytower, wondering what it’d be like to have his scent fill the air instead of the acrid smell of blood. 

At night, her hands wandered her body. For the first time in her life she was by herself constantly, giving her free reign to explore the things that had never been of interest before. 

And then she’d found him here, her Focus pinging at the familiar, unique signature as she approached. 

“The world is a big place, Nil,” she said, shaking her head. 

“And somehow, I’ve found evidence of your deft hands in the blood spilled along your path. Humans and machines alike do well to fear your prowess and your bow. I don’t think we’ll have any trouble.” 

And so they parted ways, Nil in his single-mindedness and Aloy in hers. They were more alike than they thought. 

That night as Aloy lay beneath the stars, hand between her legs, she closed her eyes and tried to recall every detail of him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 3 will be up soon! It's almost half the length of this entire story so I hope you enjoy.


	3. Shattered Kiln: Last Arrow

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you my dearest queenofkadara for beta-reading and your enthusiasm <3

The fire in his eyes burned with pure lust, but it was of a different kind than burned in Aloy’s core. His lust was for battle, for seeing bodies devoid of breath and eyes devoid of spirit. He had a ferocity to him that Aloy knew she could not hope to match in battle, but it spoke of unbridled passion lurking just below the surface. And that was something Aloy had in abundant supply these days.

They had a routine, now. Strategize. Kill bandits. Part ways. 

It was all very cut and dried, or so Aloy thought. 

The mid-morning sun shone on Nil’s skin. The colours of his headpiece came to life in their vibrance, weaving a tale of violence and bloodshed. His hands were red and his abdomen bruised, but his usual post-battle energy was nowhere to be found. In fact, he looked a little melancholy. 

Aloy pulled her spear from the last of the bandits and fell into step at Nil’s side.

“It’s over,” he said, heaving a dramatic sigh. “There are no more bandit clans. We’ve cleared these three together, and have taken our part in clearing the rest.” He shook his head. 

So this was it. It was now or never. Aloy’s heart started pounding at the very thought of it, of fulfilling this fantasy she’d been keeping alive since Devil’s Thirst. 

Nil’s mournful eyes swept over her and he pouted. “There’s no more killing to be had.” He did another once-over, eyes lingering on her lips before trailing down the rest of her body. 

Maybe Aloy was wrong about the source of his passion. Maybe his battlelust _would_ morph into something else.

“Unless…” he continued, then shook his head. “No, no.” 

Aloy tilted her head to the side, trying to parse what he meant. 

“There’s a mesa, southeast of Meridian. Meet me there,” he said, his dulcet tones reigniting Aloy’s hope for how this last meeting was going to go. He licked his lips and gazed out over the battlefield. “This bandit sprawl won’t do for our arena. No sense of drama,” he murmured. 

“Nil,” Aloy said, throat suddenly dry and feeling like she’d been stabbed in the chest. Why wait? They could be _together_ right now. They could sate her curiosity _right now_. And he wanted to wait. “Why not? Let’s just-” 

“No,” Nil shook his head. “This isn’t the place for that.” 

“But-”

“Your fiery hair betrays your personality, Nora,” he chided. “But your patience will be rewarded. The mesa. One week’s time. I want you at your best.” He contemplated her for a moment, so intent that Aloy felt hunted. “There’ll be a merchant, just a bit north of Meridian. I’ll leave something with her for you. Wear it when you meet me.” Then, without giving her a chance to respond, Nil jogged away, leaving her at a loss for words amid the deafening silence of the post-battle atmosphere. 

Fire and spit, that man was a _tease_. 

xxx 

 

Each night passed, slow as sap, until the dawn of the third day arrived. Her Charger, now battle-damaged from a herd of Tramplers she’d taken a shortcut through, sparked and spat electricity. “I’m going to have to learn how to repair you,” Aloy murmured, stroking its horn reverently. She tapped its sides with her heels, willing it to go faster.

Meridian was just coming into sight over the hills. She’d make it by midday, and to the mesa by nightfall. Nil’s words echoed in her head. Time passing pulls the anticipation tight as wire.

Never before had Aloy experienced the trueness of those words quite like she felt it now. But something nagged at the back of her consciousness; something in the way he’d said his parting words told her that his bloodthirstiness might be her undoing. The passing thought that he was luring her into something sinister crossed her mind before she vanquished it resolutely. 

She came upon the merchant and picked up the box he’d left. It contained a new set of armour. _Not what I would have chosen for this occasion,_ Aloy thought to herself. _But it’ll do._ She put it on right then and there, wondering just how rough he planned on being. 

The mesa was taller even than the one facing Meridian, where Aloy had hunted Stalkers from up high. 

She found Nil at the top, crouched next to a pile of bodies. “Setting the mood, I see?” she asked, trying to offset her nervousness with sarcasm. Her heartbeat had yet to slow from her ascent, and she had a feeling it wouldn’t be calm for quite some time. 

Nil simply grinned. 

“I briefly wondered if you were leading me into an ambush,” Aloy said sardonically as she approached. Her armour glinted in the setting sun. 

“Where’s the fun in that?” Nil asked, waving her over to the fire. “Anyway, I’d have all these leftovers to eat if I did. Come, sit.” 

Nil had prepared an exquisite feast of roasted corn, turkey, and potatoes, as well as a variety of fruits Aloy recognized from the marketplace in the Maizelands. 

Aloy took her seat by the fire, settling into a cross-legged position as he brought her meal to her. 

The way Nil ate was distinctly contradictory to the way he fought. In battle, he let loose his inner desire to see every last bandit who walked the earth dead, and no man or machine would get in his way. But now he sat by the fire, taking delicate bites of a turkey leg and using a linen cloth to dab at the grease on his lips. 

Aloy was fascinated. 

There were so many more facets to this man than she’d realized, even though he’d been on her mind for months. She had often worried, in their long absences, that she was building him into something he wasn’t -- but now she realized that there was more to him than she could ever hope to learn. 

After they ate, Nil offered Aloy his wineskin. She took a sip and let the sweet red liquid slide down her throat. It paired well with the turkey, she discovered. 

“So,” Nil said, the word elongating with his easy drawl. “How about it, then?” 

Aloy’s heart picked up its pace again. She’d known him to be direct, but she was hardly expecting him to be this _forward_. 

“How about what?” she asked, deciding to feign innocence. 

“I think you know,” he responded with a cocky tilt of his head. His fingers twitched, itching for action. 

Well, action he would get, alright. 

Aloy swallowed heavily and glanced away, toward the disappearing oranges and pinks of the sunset. 

Nil greedily watched her every movement, then jumped to his feet.

Aloy followed suit at his beckoning. 

“Well,” he said. “What do you say? How about we try to kill each other?” 

Aloy froze. _Wait, **what**?_

She felt her confusion, plain on her face. “Kill… each other?” she managed to stutter out as Nil practically vibrated with excitement. She swallowed, hard. “Nil, I’m… that’s not what…” 

Nil’s grin slowly turned to a frown at the anguish on Aloy’s face. “Wait, you don’t… want to fight me?” he asked, voice pained. 

Aloy emphatically shook her head, voice cracking into something resembling laughter. “Nil, no. I don’t want to _fight_ you.” 

He stared at the ground, deflated. “Then it’s over. Your last arrow is the cruellest.” 

Aloy swallowed and took a deep breath, opting to speak her heart before she could think better of it. “I have a different proposition for you,” she said, reaching back to untie the knot of her shirt. 

Nil looked up and gaped as she shrugged the top layer of armour off her shoulders and the shirt along with it. 

She wondered what he thought of this Nora before him, now wearing only half a blazon. 

He licked his lips and she watched as it dawned on him what _she_ had been thinking. “Oh,” he breathed. “Oh.” He straightened. “I see,” he said, tossing aside The Voice of Our Teeth. He approached her slowly, cautiously.

Aloy could feel her hands shaking with anticipation. Her heart raced at miles per minute, but she held his gaze -- for the time being. 

Finally he stopped in front of her. “We’ll never know who of us is the best hunter. But I suppose death is rather… final, isn’t it?” He reached out to tuck a braid behind her ear. His hands shook ever so slightly and she could hear his breathing grow shallow. 

“It is,” Aloy confirmed. “I thought, well, I’ve _been_ thinking, that maybe we could…” She trailed off, shrugging and studiously looking everywhere but him. She shivered as a light breeze whispered against her bare chest. “But I understand if you don’t want to.” 

She understood, but that didn’t mean the idea hurt any less. The pain of rejection -- even the concept of it -- rivalled the fiercest of wounds. 

Nil licked his lips again, drawing her attention to his mouth as it drew closer before stopping a mere hair’s breadth from her own. “I want to,” he sighed, breath ghosting across her skin before he took a step back. “I guess this choice of location won’t be a waste after all.” 

“I guess not.” She watched with rapt interest as Nil slid off his vest and let it fall in a heap on the ground. Her eyes roved over his scar-ridden chest, longing to reach out and feel his skin beneath her fingertips. 

Nil tilted her chin upward so he could kiss her ever so gently. Her hands naturally fell onto his chest, letting her fingers trail down his pectoral muscles and resting on his hips.

His lips found her neck and he kissed her tender skin, all tongue and teeth and _need_ as he amped up the pace. 

This. This was what Aloy had been craving. The soft feel of his mouth on hers, on her body, his _warmth_ \-- it was this all along. This, and something more…

Nil felt it, too.

His hands found the curve of her body, of her waist, and pulled her closer to him. Then he swung her around so her back was against a tree and kissed the side of her mouth, along her jawline, and down her neck, enacting the fantasy that had been playing out in Aloy’s head for months. 

The familiar burning desire manifested itself in Aloy’s abdomen and she spread her legs, inviting him closer. She hooked one leg up and over his hip as an unexpected sensation presented itself in the form of hard pressure, but not the kind from her hands. Or his, for that matter. 

She looked down, tilting her head to the side as she observed something jutting out against the silk of his pants. 

Nil followed her gaze and then chuckled. “Is this your first time?” he whispered in her ear, sending chills down her spine. 

“Yes,” she breathed. 

Nil took her hand and placed it against his length, inviting her to explore. He returned the favour and slipped his hand between her legs, using two fingers to press ever-so-gently against the dampness that was already forming there. 

“Oh,” Aloy gasped, arching her back away from the tree, pressing her chest towards Nil. It felt so different when it was someone else’s hand. She never wanted it to stop. 

Nil took the invitation and Aloy gasped, watching him as he lowered his head and laved his tongue over her sensitive nipple. She let out a moan when his silver eyes -- now dark in the depths of his desire -- met hers and he bared his teeth in a grin. “Nil,” she whispered, freeing one of her hands to card through his hair before grabbing a handful and giving a firm tug. Her other hand found its way to Nil’s silk belt and she gave a firm tug. “I want to see what’s underneath,” she whispered. 

“Only if I get to see the same.” 

Traversing the Sundom, Aloy had become accustomed to wearing less and less the hotter it grew. This should be no different. She pulled away from Nil briefly to shimmy out of her pants, revealing herself with a strange sense of boldness and shyness combined. 

Nil drank in the sight of her like a man who’d crossed the desert with no water-skin. 

“Your turn,” she said, fighting the rising blush that crept to the tops of her ears. She’d been naked plenty of times in her life, but only now did she realize what an intimate thing it was. 

This is what Aloy fantasized about at night. Now that it was swiftly becoming reality, she realized how much she didn’t know. She held her breath as Nil stepped closer, shirtless but still wearing his pants. 

When Nil’s deft fingers -- just two of them -- found her bud, she cried out into the night at the bolt of pleasure. Then he fingered apart her folds, and her eyes widened as he dipped his fingers into the hot wetness of her core. “Nil,” she gasped, pulling his head back so she could look him in the eyes. 

“Mm, yes?” His eyes darted to where his fingers were now teasing the edges of her entrance and his tongue flicked out over his lips. “Is _this_ what you’ve been wanting this whole time, girl?” 

Aloy, under normal circumstances and as a matter of pride, would never admit the burning need she felt for him. These were no normal circumstances, of course, so she just threw her head back and thrust her hips toward him, begging for something she couldn’t name. 

Nil fell to his knees, his hot breath dancing across her heated flesh. His hands massaged and teased along her clit, and he glanced up at her one last time before delving into her soft red curls. 

Aloy cried out. Her hand clapped over her mouth, muffling the sounds of her pleasure. Nil’s tongue worked her into a frenzy, and she spread her legs apart and arched her back away from the tree to give him better access.

He pulled away ever so briefly. “No, let the world hear how you’re falling apart in my hands,” he growled, voice rough with desire. 

Her hand fell away from her face and she gripped the tree bark, her fingernails digging in as she held on for dear life. 

Nil stood, then, and leaned in close so she could smell herself on his breath. “Why don’t we get a little more comfortable?” he growled in her ear before tugging her toward the direction of his makeshift camp. He guided her to a fur blanket and laid her down. He stood for a moment over her, admiring her form, lit as it was by the crackling fire. 

Aloy’s legs fell open and she gazed up at him, biting her lip and beckoning him forward. 

“Didn’t you tell me once that patience is a virtue?” Nil chuckled darkly. He waited a moment longer while Aloy pouted at him before kneeling between her legs and running his hands along her silky thighs. 

Aloy grabbed handfuls of fur to ground herself as his teasing motions tore her resolve apart. When he finally gave in to her silent begging, she let out a gasp as he found the spot she’d only recently discovered for herself. 

That was all the encouragement Nil seemed to need. He slipped his fingers inside her again and stroked her from the inside while his tongue lavished her sweet spot from the outside. 

She felt herself building toward something -- release? death? new life? -- and her breaths became fast and shallow. “I think -- Nil, I’m-” she cut herself off with a high-pitched moan that escaped her lips as a shockwave of intense _feeling_ racked through her body, followed by another and then another until she came back to herself, just a little, and curled up into a ball. Her thighs enclosed Nil’s face until he let her go and she released him with a gasp. 

He stood, then, and wiped the back of his hand across his mouth. He watched, slack-jawed, as she returned to the present and gazed back at him, propping herself up on her elbows. Her face was aglow with the light of the fire and her own gratification. She collapsed backward with a grin and a laugh that echoed out into the night air. And then he was on his knees between her legs, pulling his length from the confines of his trousers and pressing up against her. 

She looked back at him, eyeing his member and biting her lip. 

“Can I…?” he breathed, pushing against her entrance but holding back until she nodded her assent. Nil pressed into her and she gasped. 

This sensation was entirely new. 

He stopped, patiently waiting for her to adjust to his girth, before moving ever so slowly forward at the beckoning, impatient thrust of her hips once she was used to his size. 

It didn’t take long before he was fully sheathed in her wetness. They stayed like that for a long moment, bodies as intimately together as they could be, before Nil pulled back slowly and began a slow rhythm of in-and-out movements. He gauged her reactions and paced himself accordingly until she urged him to go faster. 

Their panting filled the night air, drowning out the crackling of the fire. 

Aloy’s hands found their way between her legs, stroking herself until Nil’s hips started to stutter in their rhythm. Just as she felt herself building to that climax again, she lost the fullness of Nil’s cock as he collapsed forward on top of her with a heady groan. She followed him over the precipice of ecstacy, crying out for the second time that night in her unbound pleasure. 

Nil bit into her shoulder, stifling a groan as his hips thrust forward in the last throes of his own climax before finally stilling. 

They lay like that for long moments until the sounds of nighttime settled in and swallowed their presence with a melodious cacophony of insects and frogs. 

Then Nil lifted himself up and brushed her hair off her face. “Wow,” he murmured, at a rare loss for words. 

“Not quite what you were expecting when I got here, was it?” Aloy asked, panting from the exertion. In the light of the fire, Aloy could see herself reflected in Nil’s eyes, and her amused expression mirrored on his features. 

“No, though I daresay this was much better.” 

 

After they finally regained their strength, Nil laid out a second fur so they would have room to lay side by side. He tucked his arm around Aloy’s middle and pulled her close, the heat from his body almost enough to keep her from feeling the chilled night air. 

“Was it good?” he murmured into her tresses, nuzzling along the back of her neck. 

A delightful shiver ran down Aloy’s spine and she smiled. “Better than good.” 

Nil gave a hum in acknowledgement. “I hope I’ve _satisfied_ your curiosity, huntress.” 

Aloy twisted so she could look him in the eye. “I don’t know,” she said with a teasing smile, “We might have to go again just to make sure.” 

Nil growled in her ear and nipped at her neck. “I think that can be arranged.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading, friends! I hope you enjoyed. 
> 
> I have [a ko-fi](https://ko-fi.com/A084GEX) if you'd like to contribute some funds to my quest for all the HZD funko mystery minis as well as that stinking adorable Aloy plushie on ThinkGeek... :D


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